Secrets Untold

by Shelia M. Goss

  I laughed. Jasmine was a joke. I was not going there with her. I walked away.

  “Don’t walk away from me,” she yelled.

  Britney called out to her. “Jas, you need to get a grip.”

  “She’s ruining my life,” I heard Jasmine said.

  A smile filled my face. “Like you tried to ruin mine,” I responded out loud as I continued to my class.

  Between my two best friends and me, we handed out all of the invitations to my sweet sixteen party. Everybody who got one seemed to be as excited as I was about it. The only damper would be seeing Jasmine. I was hoping she’d change her mind, but my gut feeling told me she would be there, if only to make my life miserable.

  My hand kept fidgeting with the necklace round my neck. Being Cole’s girl made me feel special. I had never been in love before, so whatever I was feeling was foreign to me.

  Cole stood at the water fountain after school waiting for me. “I know you’re supposed to be riding with Danielle, but I don’t have practice today. Coach cancelled. I can drive you home.”

  “I’m not so sure about that. My mom’s real strict about stuff.”

  “Come on. We’ll go straight to your house. Scout’s honor.” He crossed his chest and held up two fingers.

  “I didn’t know you were a Boy Scout.”

  “I’m not.”

  I playfully hit him.

  He laughed. “So, please?” He batted his eyelashes.

  “I’ll tell Danielle I got another ride home.”

  Danielle walked up to us. “You ready?”

  “Cole’s going to drop me off.”

  “You sure? You don’t want your mama tripping this close to your party.”

  “What party?” Cole asked.

  “We’ll talk about it in the car,” I said. “Tell your mama whatever. I’m riding with Cole.” I turned back to face Cole. “Come on. Where are you parked?”

  “On the east side,” he said, as we walked away from Danielle.

  I trusted Danielle not to reveal that Cole was taking me home, because her mom would surely call my mom if she did. Once in Cole’s car, I sent Danielle a text message just to make sure.

  “Cole, back to the party. You automatically get an invite because you’re my boyfriend. Things have been so hectic, I just hadn’t had time to talk to you about it.”

  “Of course, I’m your date.”

  We rapped along with Lil Wayne’s latest CD. By the time we got to my favorite song, Cole was pulling up in front of my house. I noticed a strange car and remembered Jasmine’s mom was supposed to meet up with my mom. I was in no rush to go inside.

  “Cole, why didn’t you tell me your dad was dead?” I asked.

  “My stepdad is like my dad, so it wasn’t like I was trying to keep secrets from you.”

  “Well, please don’t. I’ve had enough people doing that.” I was thinking about my mom.

  “Everybody at school has been talking about us, you know.” He reached over and grabbed my hand, and our fingers interlocked.

  “Really? What are they saying?”

  “That we make a cute couple. How they are surprised I finally have a girlfriend.”

  “You’re not one of them D-L brothers, are you?” I’d heard my mom and friends talk about men who were on the down low and didn’t tell their spouses. I wanted to know if Cole was secretly gay and was just using me as a smoke screen.

  “No. I’m one hundred percent heterosexual male.”

  Whew! “Glad to know. Otherwise, we were going to have a serious problem.”

  31

  After Cole and I had been sitting in the car for ten minutes, I told him, “Cole, I better go before my mom starts calling around looking for me. Thanks for the ride home.”

  “Anytime I don’t have practice, I can drop you off,” he said.

  “I’ll have to remember that. Later, ’gator.”

  I used my key to enter the house. I heard my mom and somebody talking. My guess was, it was Jasmine’s mom. The voices were coming from the living room. Apparently, they were unaware that I was at home because their conversation didn’t cease. In fact, their voices got a little louder. Once again, I found myself eavesdropping.

  “I never meant to hurt you. I really didn’t, Kim,” my mom said.

  “Angie, I forgave you a long time ago, but seeing you and your daughter the other week just drug up old memories. Memories that I thought I had suppressed.” She paused before adding, “I’m not putting all the blame on you. I know Dion was the one I was married to.”

  “Dion was manipulative,” my mom said. “He took advantage of me. He knew how much I was hurting over Trey.”

  “Dion was fine back in the day. I don’t know one woman who didn’t want him.”

  “Believe it or not, I was one of those women. He just caught me at a weak moment. He said the right words. I needed to feel loved. If it hadn’t been Dion, it would have been any other guy at that point in my life.”

  Wow! I couldn’t believe my mom admitted that.

  Kim went on to say, “I will try to talk to Jasmine, but Dion hurt her with this new revelation. She took our divorce pretty hard, you know.”

  “I admit, I did watch your show. Just to be nosy.”

  Sounded like our mothers were making amends. I wondered if Jasmine and I could ever reach that point. Only time would tell. For now, I had to use the bathroom, so I cleared my throat and entered the living room.

  “Hi, Mom,” I said, as I went and hugged her. I turned and looked at Jasmine’s mom. “Hi, Ms. Kim.”

  “Porsha, good to see you.” She stood up. “Well, Angie, I better get going. We’ll be in touch.”

  “Let me walk you out.” My mom stood up and followed Jasmine’s mom to the front door.

  My bladder refused to wait for me to go upstairs, so while my mom was walking Kimberly out, I hightailed it to the downstairs bathroom.

  My mom was seated in the living room when I made it out. “So how much did you overhear?” she asked.

  I opened up my mouth to lie but hesitated. “Not much.”

  “She’s promised to talk to Jasmine, and I agreed to do the same with you.” She patted the sofa near her. “Come sit.”

  “Mom, I have a lot of homework to do.” I wasn’t concerned with homework. I was only concerned with avoiding wherever this conversation was headed.

  “It can wait.”

  I reluctantly sat next to her.

  She looked at me. “Dear, although Kim and I are having our issues, we both agreed that you and Jasmine are sisters and should try to work on your relationship.”

  “We’ve already discussed this,” I said.

  “Well, we’ve thought about doing a spa day this Saturday. Just the five of us.”

  “Five?”

  “Yes, your sister Brenda is eager to learn more about you.”

  “Really?” That was good to hear. I would call Dion and get Brenda’s phone number. Having an older sister would be cool.

  “So you and Kim McNeil are willing to put your problems aside so that we can get along. Is that what you’re saying?” I asked.

  “Sort of. We still have a long ways to go, but at least we’re not threatening to hurt one another, like in the past.”

  “Mom, can we put off the spa day until after my party. My party is two weeks away.”

  “No, because I want you two at least on speaking terms by your party.”

  When my mom was in this mode, there was no talking her out of it. She went on and on about the importance of family. Dare I remind her, my family wouldn’t be so messed up if she hadn’t lied. I was beginning to sound like a broken record here, and so was she. “All I can promise you is that I will try. Now, can I be excused?”

  “Go ahead. You’re just as stubborn as your father,” she said.

  “Which one?”

  “Both of them.”

  “Whatever,” I said under my breath, grabbing my backpack and heading upstairs.

  I l
ogged on to the computer and entered Danielle, Tara, and my private chat area. Both were sitting idle until I sent a message. “We’re having a spa day. I don’t want to go.”

  “Then I’ll go in your place,” Tara typed. “My little brother and sister are getting on my nerves. My mom’s going out of town again this weekend, and of course, I got babysitting duty.”

  The next five minutes we chatted about Tara’s problem. Momentarily, I forgot about mine. Danielle sent a link for me to click on and marked it “urgent.”

  “What is it?” I asked before clicking.

  “I’ll call you,” she typed as her response.

  While waiting for her to call, I clicked on the link. A picture of Dion, Kim, Jasmine and Brenda stared back at me. But what really got my attention was the caption. “DID DION HAVE AN OUTSIDE LOVE CHILD?”

  Danielle was on the phone before I could read any more. “Did you click on it?”

  “Yes. Wait. I’m reading it.”

  The article read: Sources revealed National Sports Caster and former NFL Star Dion McNeil has a secret child. The child is said to be another daughter around the same age as his youngest. Since Dion was still married at that time, it means that he was double-dipping. Details to follow. As soon as we know, you’ll know.

  “Before you even think it, I did not tell anyone about this,” Danielle said.

  “Did you tell your mama?” I asked.

  “She doesn’t count,” she responded.

  I typed a quick message to Tara. Tara responded that she hadn’t told anyone either.

  “Maybe it was someone at the doctor’s office you went to,” Danielle suggested.

  Tara sent me another link while I was talking to Danielle. I clicked on it, and there was my mom’s face for the whole world to see.

  Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did.

  “Jasmine has probably been running her mouth,” I said out loud.

  32

  I hung up with Danielle and ran to locate my mom. “Mama, Mama,” I yelled out.

  “Girl, I’m in the kitchen. Stop all that yelling.”

  “Look at this.” I pulled up the link on my iPhone and handed it to her.

  “I bet you that skank did this to try to embarrass me. Here I thought we were making amends,” my mom said, as she handed me back the phone.

  “How am I supposed to go to school tomorrow? Everybody will be talking about it. I can’t show my face there ever again.” The blood vessels in my head pounded like a sledge hammer.

  “Calm down, dear. It’s not that serious. I’ll get a PR person on this right away.”

  My mom left the kitchen to make some phone calls while I was left trying to figure out how I was going to deal with my business all out in the streets for everyone to see. I had planned on introducing Dion as my dad at my sweet sixteen party. Not like this. Now people would be looking at me strange. The article made my mom sound like a home-wrecker.

  Oh, my. What would my dad think when he finds out? I got all of this drama going on, and I hadn’t even made sixteen yet.

  “Kim said she didn’t know anything about it.” My mom had re-entered the kitchen with her phone glued to her ear. “Leslie, I need for you to come over here as soon as you can.”

  I couldn’t hear what Leslie was saying, but apparently she agreed.

  “I got to call Trey. Man, this is getting out of control,” she said.

  The door opened, and Jay and Jason ran in, making a lot of noise. My dad was behind them. “What’s wrong with my girls?” he said. “You two look like death on a stick.”

  I looked at my mom, and she looked at me.

  “Jay and Jason, come on, let’s go upstairs for a minute,” I said.

  “For what?” Jay asked.

  “Come on. Can’t you see they want some privacy?” Jason pointed at Mom and Dad.

  Once I made sure they were upstairs in their room playing a video game, I eased back down the stairway and stood outside of the kitchen door.

  “Leslie’s on her way over here. You can stop yelling,” Mom said.

  “This is what I wanted to avoid. I don’t want our baby’s name in the news.”

  “Baby, it’s been leaked. I need to make a statement. Take the gossip out of it and just address it and not avoid it.”

  “No wonder my phone’s been ringing off the hook. I’ve just been too busy today to talk to anyone if it wasn’t you or the kids. Have you talked to Dion?” he asked.

  “You know what. It probably was him. He’s probably trying to garner up ratings for his show.”

  “Don’t bother. I’m calling him now.”

  I tiptoed back upstairs. I did a quick search and clicked on the different links talking about Dion McNeil. One website swore it was a love triangle between Dion, Mom, and Dad. My cell phone beeped to indicate I had missed calls and messages. Several people from school were calling me, including Cole. I deleted the messages and dialed Cole’s number. When his phone went to voice mail, I hung up without leaving a message.

  Dion’s number popped up on my cell phone. I answered.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir,” I responded.

  “We’re going to get to the bottom of this. Talking about me is one thing, but bringing my kids into it is something else. Don’t you worry about it. And hold your head up high. You have nothing to be ashamed about.”

  His phone beeped. “That’s Jasmine on the other end. Call me if you need me, okay.”

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  My mom entered my room without knocking like she normally did. “Did Dion call you like he said he would?”

  “I just hung up with him.”

  “Nobody seems to know how all of this was leaked. He’s going to contact the doctor’s office tomorrow. If we find out they leaked it, they will be sued.” She walked near me and wrapped her arms around me. “It’s going to be okay, baby,” she said.

  “I’m still not going to school tomorrow.”

  “Things will look brighter in the morning.”

  The doorbell rang.

  “That’s probably Leslie. Get you some rest. I’ll be dropping you off at school tomorrow.”

  I waited upstairs as long as I could. I had to know what was going on and being said, so I headed downstairs.

  Jay said from behind me. “Mama told us to stay up here.”

  “She said y’all stay up here. She didn’t give me the same orders,” I responded.

  “I’m telling Mama,” Jay yelled.

  “You better not open your mouth.” I gave him the evil eye, and he retreated back to his room.

  Fooling with Jay made me miss the first part of their conversation. By the time I entered the hallway near the living room, they were talking about what my mom would say to the media if anyone contacted her.

  Leslie said, “You can direct all media questions to me. This is not a bad thing at all. You’ve been thinking about launching your new jewelry, so now is the time to capitalize on the attention and bring the conversation back to it.”

  “But isn’t that tacky?” Mom asked.

  “It’s called turning negative press into positive press, and any time it can put money in your pocket, it’s positive, right?”

  “Right about that.”

  “Young lady,” my dad said from behind me, causing me to jump, “you’re going to get tired of eavesdropping.”

  “I—I didn’t want to interrupt,” I stuttered.

  He laughed. “Just like your mama.”

  “She said I’m just like you.”

  “Well, then you’re all right, kid.” He smiled.

  I smiled back and headed back toward the stairs.

  33

  Who would have thought news of me being Dion McNeil’s daughter could cause this much of a commotion? We arrived at school and saw news crews from local and national stations camped outside.

  “See? Told you I should have stayed at home,” I said.

&n
bsp; Mom said, “Oh, you’re going to school. I’m going to drive around back, and you can go through the cafeteria.”

  After my cloak-and-dagger move, I entered the school through the back door. People who knew who I was stared at me as I walked down the hallway. I saw several people stop and stare and heard them whisper. I attempted to hold my head up high. I would have been satisfied going back home, but no, my mom insisted that I go to school. I bumped into Cole in the hallway.

  “I tried to call you last night,” he said.

  “I called you back too but got your voice mail,” I said.

  “I heard about what happened. You all right?”

  “Cole, I’m fine. I’d be even better if people would stop asking me that question.”

  “Woo! I’m on your side, remember?”

  “Sorry, Cole. I’m under a lot of pressure right now.”

  Danielle and Tara ran up to us. “Girl, did you see all those news trucks? You’re hot news,” Tara said.

  “I wish folks would just stay out of my business and mind their own,” I snapped.

  I left Cole and my two BFFs staring at my backside as I headed to my homeroom. There was more whispering and murmurs during class. I did my best to ignore them, but it was really grating on my nerves.

  “We need to talk,” were the words Jasmine blurted out to me when we ran into each other in the hallway.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I responded.

  “I’m used to dealing with the media, and I’m telling you, I think we should.”

  I thought about it. Jasmine did have her own reality show. I also recalled when her parents were divorcing how the media blew that out of proportion too. It wouldn’t hurt to listen to her.

  “What do you have to say?”

  “All eyes are going to be on us, so I think we should try to have a united front.”

  “You mean lie,” I said, tilting my head.

  “We don’t have to act like we’re best buddies or anything, but at least look like we’re happy that we now have each other as sisters.”

  “You’re the actress, not me,” I said.

  “You’re not making this easy for me, are you?” she snapped.